Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-22

It is the gaiety of boys the day before the breaking up, or of sailors at their sports as the ship crosses the line. A full atelier has about sixty students, small one about thir- ty. For the real purposes of work the small are much the preferable. Not more than thirty can really draw from the same model. The pupils are of all ages-some as young as seventeen, others in the thirties and forties; these last will remain pupils all their lives. Seven years is the allotted time of appren- ticeship, but the seven years are never "done;" from three to four would be the av- craze.
 The nouveau, when he joins, must expect good deal of horseplay, and some fooling that he will scarcely think admirable and may fad inconvenient. In the old military novels we read of the tricks practised on an ensign on making his debut in the mess room. These tricks are with us tradition; in the Paris atelier they are still actualities. There is an etiquette which must be ob- served and infractions of it are sternly pun ished. The offender who has been sentenced Ca Pechelle' is stripped to the waist and hung by the arms (not paintully) from the top of ladder till he expiates his punish- ment. Curious designs are painted with ad- mirable dexterity on his skin. Sometimes he is covered with blue paint and ordered with mock solemnity to show himself in the same plight six weeks hence to his judges Good humor on the part of the victim atones IOE every ana HIS pUQ1SQIn6nG VIII end at once if he has the gift and sense to sing song. Occasionally the great artist who is the professor takes look round the atelier. AS rule he will not visit till after there has been three days work from the model In some respects his visit is practically worth less. In the course of so many hours sit ting the model has learned to adopt many trihing alterations of the pose, such as can scarcely be complained of, and yet make it less irksome to him to sustain. In studio parlance the action has settled down. The pupils therefore who have been most accu- rate in their drawing on the first day will be most corrected by the professor on the third. Every professor knows this; it has been his own student experience, and yet he will re- peat the old blunder. In matters of compo- sition, tone, light and shade the professors corrections are of the highest value, because these do not alter as the model sssettles down.n
 Most of the Paris models are foreigners, Italians forming the majority. For the pur- poses of the student atelier the career of a female model seldom exceeds three seasons In that lapse of time the more attractive ones have become recognized, and have been en- gagged by wealthy artists who can give high prices; while competition supplants the less desirable ones. A model, however, like & rustic cottage often has an artistic value far l in excess of her personal attraction to an un- educated eye. Her face suggests rather than ] presents beauty. She is hint and an in- l spiration for the painter more often than & l subject for the photographer. It is the ! paintable rather than the pretty face that be- comes the favorite in the end. Cautiously ! enough this is nowhere more immediately 1 recognized than among the students of sn atelier. Many of the models who have sat | for the most taking pictures seem at first | sight almost plain. The best old male mod l el-the Pere Koeth, an ideal figure of Chro- ' I,a, lso1 Ias.. 1o1 l seventy years. It was one of his favorite re- marks that on given day (not long pas) he would have been seventy years in the profes- | sion, and was only beginning to understand his art. He never criticised pictures, differ | ing in this respect from many of his breth- 1 ren; nor could he be induced to discuss | either painters or revo lutions, of both ot 1 which he had seen many. He was, however a great authority on points of etiquette, free l ly laying down the law; and this he did i'm, l partially, whether Bonnat, Cabanel's, Du- | ran's or the more recent atelier of Cormon l had the benefit of his presence. This old | man, who so accurately resembled time, and had so often sat for his portrait kind | of successor to the Pere Sinel, a favorite model to Ingres and Flandrin. Sinel also sat many times en capuein for Delaroche.
 In Paris the republicanism of art makes l the relation of model and artist closer than i | would be with us. Anyone who strolls int
 
 will find it favo1ite rendezvous of the ar | lists of the Montmartre quarter. Here tot come the models when their days work Ii l done, and here they meet their friends and ! seek re-engagements. Gerome has dined a
 this humble restaurant and all the tenants O
 the well known Villa des Arts. It is anu
 sing to hear the models chattering together commenting on the paintings in which the,
 figure as if these canVases were their owl
 work, and speaking of their "triumphs'
 and "successes" with unruff1ed self-compla l cency. The model enters SO largely into tn l work of an artist that what the public re
 gards as mannerism is sometimes only tn
 painters intense sympathy with special DO
 sence. The case of Romney and Lady Ham
 ilton will at once suggest itself to the read
 CT; and there are two English painters, per l haps the most popular now living, who ar
 clearly dominated by a special type of face
 This, however, is far more characteristic o l England than of France, and it's absence i
 one of the superiorities of French art ovel
 our own. In the French studio models ar
 used in segments, so to speak-fer the hair
 the nose, the arm, the leg, as the case may l be-a special purpose at the outset directing
 the choice. One of the pleasantest tradi
 tions of the atelier is the story of the wei | known model De Troia, an Italian of tn "Greek god" type. He was sitting to young artist who was full of promise, bu
 very poor. At last the sitting could no lon ger be paid for, though the work remained
 incomplete. On hearing this De Troia passet 1 in moment from model to critic, said h. had faith in the work and continued his sit
 tings on terms which he himself proposed
 If it failed he lost his money; if it succeeded
 he was to be paid The student finished tn
 group. It took medal at the salon, ant
 was sold at high price.